Orientation

Gabe my grandson slept over the other night. He had played himself out pretty thoroughly, at 2 that is harder to do than you may think. Needless to say, he went to bed, tucked in by grandpa clothing and all almost asleep before he hit the pillow. Having Gabe sleep over is great because you get greeted by the sweetest hugs and the greatest energy you could imagine in the morning.

Anticipating an early morning with Gabe waking singing, I tiptoed out of bed in the morning to try to get a bit of exercise in before I heard his voice calling. To my surprise I managed to get an entire workout on the WII in (that is another story for another day) and I had not yet heard Gabe. Being the paranoid person I am, I started worrying and asked my husband, have you heard from Gabe. He was as surprised as me and suggested that if Gabe was quiet, then there was likely trouble afoot - like Vaseline on the walls, or powder everywhere or some other exciting thing for 2 year olds, but not so exciting for their grandparents. Not knowing what to expect I opened the bedroom door to see Gabe laying down but quickly getting up and giving me a great big “Hi Gamma” (“R’s” are not his forte yet). I picked him up and received a huge hug with the following question coming as quickly as the hug “Can I have dinner now?”

Evidently he had been so tired, and slept so soundly that he did not realize he had slept the night away. Confused and bewildered, he had lost time to the fatigue of a busy life. How like us adults. Life runs along, pulling us in all kinds of directions. We sometimes feel like we are perpetually in an unending marathon. Only when exhausted do we slow down and then collapse. When we come to, it is too often to ponder how did we get to be in such a state. Where had the time gone? How had we become so disoriented that we lost sense of space and time, values and top priorities.

God knows that it is our propensity to wander from essentials. He very busily and creatively set to work in creating the world and loved the task and enjoyed the outcome immensely, but then He imposed a day of rest. Why would God have needed to rest you may say. He is God, He is all powerful (like we sometimes think we are), He doesn’t need rest. You are right, God is all powerful, and all knowing too, that is why He created a day of rest, a day to enjoy Him and a day to stop working, a day to reprioritize. Without rest we loose focus, God falls further and further away from the center of our top concerns. With rest, and ordered priorities, we have a chance of regrouping, restoring, refreshing and reorienting ourselves to what is truly important.

God, relationships, peace of mind, peace of heart are all outcomes of appropriate rest. Is it time to stop spinning wheels, to stop the rat race on the never ending gerbil wheel that we have come to call life? Is it time to capture life and to live it in the fullest, with rest and focus on God well incorporated so that the rest of our lives may be lived to the fullest.

Those who wait upon the Lord with renew their strength, they will mount up on wings as eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. Isa 40:31